Figures just released from the Central Statistics Office are showing an almost 8% increase in the number of overseas people taking a trip to Ireland. According to the CSO recent figures show that there were more than 6 million people taking a vacation in Ireland in the first 7 months of 2018 which is an increase of 7.8% compared to the same period in 2017.

The majority of this increase was due to visitors from North America who took both individual and group tours in Ireland. Visitor s from North America rose by 13.5% and visitors from mainland Europe rose by 10.6%. Tourism Ireland said that a rise in airline seats from the US and Canada was a particular factor in the growth in Ireland tours.

In July alone the number of people who Visited Ireland increased by 12.5% making it the best month ever for tourism. According to the CSO, more than 1,160,500 people visited Ireland in July. Visitors from Britain visited Ireland more than any other nationality with 353,300 people travelling here in July alone. Trips from other European nationalities increased by 12.5% to 422,800 and visitors from the USA and Canada increased by 24.5% to 299,300.

Niall Gibbons, CEO of Tourism Ireland, said: “Today’s figures from the CSO confirm that overseas visitor numbers increased by 436,000 when compared with the first seven months of 2017.”

“While we welcome the fact that arrivals from Britain are up 2.5%, it’s too early to say if this represents a turnaround in the long-term trend. The impact of Brexit on outbound travel from Britain, therefore, remains a concern.”

“Particularly welcome in today’s figures is the continued strong performance from North America, with an increase of 13.5%. A number of factors are working in our favour, including more airline seats than ever before, from more gateways across the US and Canada. We’ve also seen excellent results from Mainland Europe, with particularly strong performances from Germany and Italy,” Mr Gibbons said.

Mr Gibbons said, “While we welcome the fact that arrivals from Britain are up 2.5%, it’s too early to say if this represents a turnaround in the long-term trend. The impact of Brexit on outbound travel from Britain, therefore, remains a concern.”